Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant elects the embodiment of fig 3C.
Claims 6, 9, 13-18, 26, 29, 33-37 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claims 6 and 26 (requiring the second wavelength band comprises “visible light”) are also additionally withdrawn since it cannot read on the elected embodiment of fig 3C which requires the second wavelength band (emitter 338 [0069-0074]) comprises “non-visible light”. This was confirmed in an interview with attorney Emily Hamman on 2/13/2026, in particular, that the claimed “second light emitter” corresponds to the UV light emitter 338 of the third illuminator module 306 also described at [0069]. It was also confirmed that the ordinal designation of emitters and packages of the elected embodiment of fig 3C in the specification does not correspond to the designation used in claim 1, i.e. the claimed first package having dual lights corresponds to the specification’s third illuminator module 306 (0069 blue and UV lights), but does correspond with the nonelected embodiment of fig 3B (0062).
Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 10/22/2025. The traversal was on the grounds that the embodiment of fig 3A is not a mutually exclusive embodiment with respect to the other figures which was found persuasive. Therefore, the Election/Restriction requirement has been amended to reflect this, i.e. three mutually exclusive embodiments: 3B, 3C, and 3E, where the embodiment of fig 3C has been elected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, 8, 10-12, 19-24, 27, 28, 30-32, 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otterstrom US20170293134 and further in view of Geissler US20050135095.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 1, “A light source for illuminating a target for medical imaging, the light source comprising:
a first light emitter (second LED 132 emits blue wavelength light; fig 5; 0053) that emits light having a first wavelength band and a second light emitter (first LED/UV LED 130 emits UV wavelength light; fig 5; 0053) that emits light having a second wavelength band that is different than the first wavelength band;
a second light emitter package (package containing third LED 134; fig 5) comprising a third light emitter (third LED 134 emitting green wavelength light; fig 5; 0053) that emits light having a third wavelength band that is different than the first and second wavelength bands; and
a controller (switching logic 164; fig 4; 0059) for operating the light source in a first mode (0061 describes the first mode) in which the first light emitter and the third light emitter are activated and the second light emitter is deactivated (0061 describes the first mode where the first LED/UV LED 130 is off and RGB light is on for white light illumination), and a second mode (0063 describes a third mode as the claimed second mode where only the first LED/UV LED 130 as the claimed second light emitter is powered on) in which the first light emitter is deactivated and the second light emitter is activated”.
Otterstrom does not disclose for claim 1, wherein the first light emitter and second light emitter are configured on “a first light emitter package comprising” the first and second light emitters, but rather does not specify the configuration of the emitters on emitter packages. Geissler teaches in the same field of endeavor, packaging multiple light emitters onto a single emitter package (fig 8 showing red and blue on a single package along with green and turquoise on a single package, taking four separate light emitters onto two packages 0039). Since Otterstrom fails to disclose the nature of the light emitter packages, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used any suitable package configuration known in the art, including the one taught by Geissler to achieve the predictable result of configuring a first light emitter package comprising a first light emitter and a second light emitter as claimed. Geissler provides additional motivation for the combination citing that multiple panels (packages) connected in series requires greater installation space and exhibit disadvantageously different differences in distance from the sources to the connection to the projection device (0005), whereby combining two emitters into a single package provides efficient and comparatively simply array for the illumination of an object including a small installation space (0007).
Otterstrom discloses for claim 2, “The light source of claim 1, wherein the third light emitter is deactivated in the second mode (0063 describes a third mode where only the first LED/UV LED 130 as the claimed second light emitter is powered on)”.
Modified Otterstrom discloses for claim 3, “The light source of claim 1, comprising a first optical element (Geissler: dichroic beam splitter SP4 as modified in claim 1; fig 8 0039) for combining emissions from at least the first and second light emitter packages into a combined light beam”.
Modified Otterstrom discloses for claim 4, “The light source of claim 3, comprising a second optical element (optical component 132’ modified for dual emitters; fig 7; 0055) located in front of the first light emitter and the second light emitter (Geissler: fig 8 shows a package with two light emitters emitting in a single light path) for receiving light from the first light emitter and the second light emitter and directing the received light to the first optical element”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 5, “The light source of claim 3, comprising a third optical element (optical component 134’; fig 5; 0055) located in front of at least the third light emitter for receiving light from at least the third light emitter and directing the received light to the first optical element.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 7, “The light source of claim 1, wherein the light having the first wavelength band (blue light as cited above) and the light having the third wavelength band (green light as cited above) comprise visible light and the light having the second wavelength band comprises non-visible light (UV light as cited above)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 8, “The light source of claim 7, wherein the non-visible light comprises near-infrared light or ultraviolet light (first LED/UV LED 130 emits UV wavelength light; fig 5; 0053)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 10, “The light source of claim 8, wherein the visible light of the third light emitter comprises green light (third LED 134 emitting green wavelength light; fig 5; 0053)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 11, “The light source of claim 1, comprising a third light emitter package comprising a fourth light emitter (red light fourth LED 136; fig 5; 0053) that emits light having a fourth wavelength band (red light) that is different than the first, second, and third wavelength bands, and wherein the controller is configured to activate the fourth light emitter along with the first light emitter and the third light emitter in the first mode (0053 describes white light generation by activating red, green, and blue lights)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 12, “The light source of claim 11, wherein the light source is configured to generate white light by activating the first, third, and fourth light emitters (0053 describes white light generation by activating red, green, and blue lights)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 19, “The light source of claim 1, wherein the light source is configured for endoscopic imaging (0044 describes the system for endoscopic imaging)”.
Modified Otterstrom as in claim 1 discloses for claim 20, “A method for illuminating a target for medical imaging, the method comprising:
emitting light having a first wavelength band (second LED 132 emits blue wavelength light; fig 5; 0053) from a first light emitter (Geissler: fig 8 showing an emitter with two light sources) of a first light emitter package while a second light emitter (first LED/UV LED 130 emits UV wavelength light; fig 5; 0053) of the first light emitter package remains deactivated (0061 describes the first mode where the first LED/UV LED 130 is off and RGB light is on for white light illumination), wherein the second light emitter is configured to emit light having a second wavelength band (UV light) that is different than the first wavelength band (blue light);
while emitting the light having the first wavelength band from the first light emitter, emitting light having a third wavelength band (third LED 134 emitting green wavelength light; fig 5; 0053) that is different than the first and second wavelength bands from a third light emitter of a second light emitter package (package containing third LED 134; fig 5) to illuminate the target with light that includes the first and third wavelength bands and lacks the second wavelength band (0061 describes the first mode where the first LED/UV LED 130 is off and RGB light is on for white light illumination); and
deactivating the first light emitter and activating the second light emitter to emit the light having the second wavelength band to illuminate the target with light that includes the second wavelength band and lacks the first wavelength band (0063 describes a third mode as the claimed second mode where only the first LED/UV LED 130 as the claimed second light emitter is powered on)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 21, “The method of claim 20, comprising combining the light from the first and second light emitter packages into a combined light, and illuminating the target with the combined light (Geissler: dichroic beam splitter SP4 as modified in claim 1; fig 8 0039)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 22, “The method of claim 20, comprising, while emitting the light having the first and third wavelength bands, generating a first temporal sequence of images of the target (0004, 0045 describes video image data for the different imaging modes)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 23, “The method of claim 20, comprising, while emitting the light having the second wavelength band, generating a second temporal sequence of images of the target (0004, 0045 describes video image data for the different imaging modes)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 24, “The method of claim 20, comprising generating a temporal sequence of images while alternatingly activating and deactivating the first and second light emitters (0045 describes controlling various functions, which includes imaging modes)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 27, “The method of claim 20, wherein the light having the first wavelength band (blue light as cited above) and the light having the third wavelength band (green light as cited above) include visible light and the light having the second wavelength band includes non-visible light (UV light as cited above)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 28, “The method of claim 27, wherein the non-visible light comprises infrared light or ultraviolet light (first LED/UV LED 130 emits UV wavelength light; fig 5; 0053)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 30, “The method of claim 28, wherein the visible light of the third light emitter comprises green light (third LED 134 emitting green wavelength light; fig 5; 0053)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 31, “The method of claim 20, comprising, while emitting the light having the first and third wavelength bands, emitting light having a fourth wavelength band (blue light second LED 132; fig 5; 0053) that is different from the first and third wavelength bands from a fourth light emitter of a third light emitter package illuminate the target with light that lacks the second wavelength band (0053 describes white light generation by activating red, green, and blue lights)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 32, “The method of claim 31, wherein emitting the light having the first, third, and fourth wavelength bands generates white light (0053 describes white light generation by activating red, green, and blue lights)”.
Otterstrom discloses for claim 38, “The method of claim 20, comprising illuminating the target with an endoscope (0044 describes the system for endoscopic imaging)”.
Claim(s) 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otterstom and Geissler as applied to claim 20 above, and further in view of Landes US20240032782.
Otterstrom does not disclose for claim 25, “The method of claim 20, wherein the third light emitter remains activated while the first light emitter is deactivated and the second light emitter is activated to illuminate the target with light that includes the third wavelength band (0061 describes the first mode where the first LED/UV LED 130 is off and RGB light is on for white light illumination)”. Landes teaches in the same field of endeavor, structure of blood vessels can be better recognized by illuminating with UV light and green light (0002). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the modification of Landes into the invention of Otterstrom in order to configure the method e.g. as claimed because it provides an imaging mode that better images blood vessel structure (0002).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAE K WOO whose telephone number is (571)272-0837. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-2:30p, 6p-9p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anhtuan Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-4963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jae Woo/Examiner, Art Unit 3795
/ANH TUAN T NGUYEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3795 02/19/2026